Thornton Academy 35

Scarborough 6

Coming into Friday night’s game against 2-0 Thornton Academy, the Scarborough Red Storm hit the field determined to open with a bang.

They succeeded.

Senior Brendan Ham grabbed the game’s opening kickoff and broke through the Thornton coverage team for a touchdown run, giving the Storm a 6-0 lead before Thornton even touched the ball.

Unfortunately for Scarborough, they were unable to capitalize on their fast start, and despite a close first half that ended with Thornton in front 14-6, the Trojans pulled away to a 35-6 win.

After the game, Thornton coach Kevin Kezal said that the Trojans came into Scarborough expecting a tough game. “We knew they were going to be fired up, they’re a good football team,” said Kezal. “Certainly that kick return gave them a lot of life early and my kids responded very well.”

The Trojans, who had outscored their first two opponents by a combined score of 104-6, certainly did respond to being down early. They took the ball on their own 34 and embarked on a long five-minute, 56-second drive that ended when the Trojans’ Zach Sheehan burst through the middle from the 1-yard-line for a touchdown. Alex Howard added the extra point, and with 5:49 left, the Trojans were on top 7-6.

As the two teams lined up for the ensuing kickoff, Ham dropped back deep to take another chance at running one back all the way.

He nearly succeeded.

Ham broke off a 53-yard return to set up the Red Storm with great field position at the Trojans’ 35. But Scarborough wasn’t able to take advantage and was forced to punt.

That set the Trojans up for another long drive, but just as it looked like they were going to score, the Storm caught a break. On a first down play from the Scarborough 22 with 11 seconds left in the first quarter, Sheehan fumbled and Scarborough’s Evan Twomey jumped on it to stop the drive and give the ball back to the Storm.

But just like the last drive, the Storm were unable to move the ball and after a short punt, the Trojans took over on the Storm 42. Thornton quarterback Steve Trask put the Trojans in prime position with an 18-yard keeper on third-and-2, and three plays later, Sheehan plunged in from the 1 to give the Trojans a 14-6 lead with 6:54 left.

Down by eight, the Red Storm had one last chance before halftime, and once again it came after they took advantage of a Thornton mistake.

With the Trojans threatening to score in the final two minutes of the half, Trask fumbled on the Scarborough 25 and Peter Doyer pounced on the ball to give his team one more drive.

This time, the Red Storm moved the ball on Thornton, as Ham and Peter Tuma had big runs and quarterback Kyle Kelley had big throws to Colin O’Connor, Matt Duquette and Colin Pierce to move the ball to the Trojans’ 8. But the Thornton defense got to Kelley on a second down play, with three Trojans sacking him for a 12-yard loss and the half ended with the Trojans still in front.

Scarborough coach David Sterling said he was pleased with how his team moved the ball at the end of the half. “We gave some guys some very good opportunities inside the 20,” he said after the game. “We’ve got to take advantage of those. We played very well against a very good football team.”

The Trojans came out fast after the halftime break. It took Thornton just two plays to score as Sheehan ripped off a 24-yard run and then followed that up with a 16-yard run to score his third touchdown of the game to make the score 21-6 with 11:23 left in the third quarter.

Sheehan would get his fourth touchdown of the game later in the quarter as he capped a 10-play, 76-yard drive with a one-yard touchdown run to make it 28-6 with 3:54 left to go in the third.

After another Scarborough three-and-out, Trask got on the scoreboard. The junior quarterback called his own number on a keeper from the Thornton 34 and sliced through the middle for a 66-yard touchdown run with 1:58 left in the quarter to make the final score 35-6.

Big play of the game

For the Red Storm, Ham’s opening kick return gave the team quite a spark to get the game underway. It ignited the home crowd and Scarborough used that momentum to play a very strong first half against a tough Thornton squad.

Unsung heroes

Evan Twomey and Peter Doyer, who both pounced on Thornton fumbles in the first half. While that didn’t score any points for the Red Storm, those two plays stopped long Thornton drives and kept Scarborough in the game.

They said it

Despite the loss, Sterling said he saw a lot of positive things from his team in the game. “(I saw) excellent things, we’ve got a sophomore quarterback who’s throwing the ball very well,” he said. “At the end of the game, we put in some underclassmen receivers, they played very well. Now they know what it takes to complete a drive and to step and play well. Defensively, we’ve got to wrap up and tackle and we’re going to work on that a little bit more.”

Up next

The 2-1 Red Storm will travel to North Berwick next Friday night to take on the Noble Knights in a 7 p.m. game. Last week, Noble fell to 0-3 with a 32-20 loss on the road to Kennebunk.

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